Friday, August 15, 2008

Study With Me - Chapter 3

Hi Everyone If this is your first time here, we are doing a study using Joyce Meyer's book "Battlefield of the Mind" So to go to the beginning click the button on my side bar or scroll down to the "Study with me Intro"

Father God thank you that we have another opportunity to study and ponder your word. Give us wisdom to discern how to apply theses messages to our lives. In Jesus name Amen.

Chapter 3 - Don't Give Up

Joyce was talking about having a Wilderness Mentality, and I think we all get there sometimes. That rut that keeps us going around the same Mountain. "But that's the way we've always done it."

Matthew15: 6 So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect]. (amp)

One day I was on my way to work and talking with God. I was thinking - Wow that's bad it took them 40 years to make an 11 day trip. They wandered and wandered, grumbling and complaining, all they had to do was listen to God and follow Him. All they had to do was to be grateful. That wasn't very smart, they could have had it all, and it took FORTY years. Then I heard God speak into my Spirit, "And how old are you Lynn? And when did you start really being obedient to my words?" Ouch! What was that about Judge not lest ye be judged. :)

The important message that Joyce was getting at in this chapter is "Don't Give Up". No matter what we've done or haven't done, keep going. If you miss your mark, pick yourself up and keep going. Again, don't let all those negative thoughts that come to you take residence in your mind. If we know how to worry, then turn it around and meditate on Gods word.

Ponder on areas that you have struggled with. (There's those strongholds again.)

Have you reached the victory circle or are you still in the race? - (Remember Don't Give Up!)

If you are still in the race is your 11 day journey past the 11th day?

What is holding you back?

What can you do to finish that race?

If you are in the victory circle what revelations did God give you to cross the finish line?

Looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Thank you God for your wisdom and strength as we renew our minds. In Jesus Name Amen.

21 comments:

This chapter was a good one for me. As I try to set my mind to be like God's (or at least in God's will) I find out how really difficult it is! The passage in Joyce's book about retraining your mind (having Jesus re-program it) really spoke to me.

Developing life-giving thoughts, like when there is someone at work who rubs me the wrong way and around whom I would typically have sarcastic or negative thoughts, I now try to see them as Christ sees them. I try to find the nugget in them that should be encouraged. I whisper prayers in my head to ask for encouraging words and for discernment. I am not always successful, but more often then not, I find that the interaction is positive rather than negative, and both of us feel better.

I starred the verse from Isaiah (43:2) - 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

It's so encouraging to me that we are not alone in our journey. God is with us!

My eleven day journey is still going on. Even though I was raised in a Christian household with very devout parents, I went through a rebellious young adulthood. I began my journey in earnest about 17 years ago and have grown so much! But my thoughts are still not all life-giving, my ways are still not all God-pleasing, and I still take back my burdens, not fully trusting God to take care of them. I'm still too independent and still a work in progress. :)

Karen and Sharon,This has also been a good chapter for me. Persistent faith is the key! I have to consistently apply my mind to remember the "tough times" conquered and that strengthens my faith.

I started keeping a prayer journal during a particularly rough time in my life. I wrote out my prayers because the task of "writing" made me better express what I was feeling. After a couple of months, I would review my prayers and could "see" how God brought me through that particular crisis and then I began to realize my faith was growing, because of victories won. I began to trust God more. I still, from time to time, get out that old journal and review when I am starting to feel discouraged and it encourages me to know "from whence I came"!

Good Afternoon:Just popping in to say I read Chap.3 your post and comments thus far...Other than I know the Lord is speaking don't give up...I have nothing to comment...so I will just let it all settle and come back later...Have a great week-end.In His Love,Debrah

Hello All,Well Karen I hear you loud an clear. I too am a work in progress and I guess we all will always be. A favorite saying that I like is "I may not be where I need to be yet, but thanks to God I'm not where I used to be. Have a great weekend.Loves,Lynn

Debrah,That's good. Don't force it. When God what's to point something out He makes it known. I'm sure as we go through this book some things will hit some of us and not the rest and vice versa (sp) I'm glad you can be honest. Thanks for your comments. Have a great weekend.Loves, Lynn

This chapter is...eye opeining to say the least. Lynn, I like what you said about the 11 day journey verses the 40 year journey. God reminded me there are two ways to do things. His way or His way the hard way.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ. The world we live in is not any different than the world that Christ lived in. We may be a little more "advanced", but the same sins, and the same problems that exist now, existed then. We have not even begun to live through half the "stuff" that Jesus did, but just like the disciples in the garden we are "asleep" on the job. I think the key to having the mind of Christ, is to have the love for God that Jesus did. What we love the most, we give the most to. I don't know about ya'll, but it seems that I am still struggling with being a Christian and not being of the world at the same time.

As I have been meditating on this, I have felt God telling me, that we do not apply the salve of the Word to or sins, we pour the salt of the world on them.

Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on You. Because he trusts in You. Stayed according to Esword: A primitive root; to prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively to lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense): - bear up, establish, (up-) hold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain.

We tell a dog and our children to stay, and expect them to mind. So why can't we tell our minds to stay too?

As far as your questons Lynn, most of the time I don't feel like I have even left the starting line/gate yet. I just can't seem to get my hand off of the CONTROL panel.

Sallye,I'm smiling right now. :) You had some good sayings that hit... Asleep in the garden. Hand on the controll panel. I think for anybody and all of us it's the dilligent man that prospers and so the key whether we mess up or not is to keep going keep seeking God. It's kinda like they tell us if we are ever in a live performance, school choir, band, drama, etc if you mess up don't let on just keep going. Well I look at God that way. If I mess up I ask for forgiveness, repent and keep going.

This chapter speaks to me because I have issues in my life that I would like to change. At work, there is one person that rubs me the wrong way almost constantly, and I have sincerely tried not to let the bad thoughts capture my mind. They enter and I ask Jesus to take them away. I constantly have to remind myself What would Jesus do. I also smoke and want desparately for Jesus to take them away. Joyce has spoke to my heart because I spend way to much time pondering the bad thoughts and not enough reading and dwelling upon God's word. But there is still hope, and I will not give up the battle.You first question have I finished the race. Not even close. How many days we have to number them in years. I feel that I have known that our walk with Jesus is about a relationship and walking in the spirit for maybe 10 years. I have not been consistent in my faithfulness to God. This is why I have not had any victory. You said something the other day about change. We can't change unless we change something. I feel this relates to what Joyce is talking about. Change your thinking and your actions will follow. I think this pretty much takes care of your first 2 questions.What can I do to finish the race. Stay in God's word, let it renew my mind, and change my addiction from cigarettes to Jesus. That being said I can't and I won't give up.God Bless and keep you. Thank you for allowing me to join your study group.

I am doing this study and an online study at http://jesusyourwordistruth.blogspot.com/ called the Way of Cain. One of the scriptures from week one that is walking hand and hand with this study is Proverb 4:23 Keep you heart will all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. What is in our heart comes out of our mouth. This is one of the things that the Battlefield of the Mind is trying to teach we have to guard our heart with all diligence. Wash it over and over and over in the Word. Meditate on and repeat as often as necessary. This is what the renewing of our minds means.

Faye,Thanks for your comments, and I'm glad you joined. :) You are so right about renewing our minds. Along with this study Joyce also did a CD series called "Where the mind goes the man Follows." Because what we ponder is what we become. (Figuratively) About the smoking, God loves ya no matter what, and if it didn't harm your body He'd say go for it. I can't say it's easy to quit it took me 4 years of playing around with quiting before I did. I quit for 4 mos started back up. Quit for 7 mos started back up. Now I've been free for 4 years. There's no set way to do it it will happen when you really purpose in your heart to do it. "Don't Give Up" :)Hey and just so you know there is another quilter here.... Karen has been quilting for about ten years.

Hi Ladies:when I last dropped by I stated that all I know is that the Lord is saying don't give up...I have been reading Don't get weary in well doing, praying don't get weary in well doing, been told by others don't get weary in well doing and have prayed this for and told others not to be weary in well doing, read this in our study (Chap 3)...yesterday when I arrived home from praying with a neighboring fellowship to stand in agreement with Lou Engle/Call DC -I watched GodTv CALL DC live at some point there was Lou Engle saying Don't Give Up...look at how long it took for me(lou engle) to see the answer of this prayer...so I know (I am not incredibly dense...well...)that the Lord is speaking Be Not Weary...Don''t Give Up...but the lightbulb is still not going on..anyway enough about me...The Call DC- I think it was about 70,000 youth showed up to pray w/ Lou about ending abortion in our nation,adoption, holding up the sanctity of marriage, about judicial appointments, salvation, restoration of relationships with Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Spanish Americans...young children and teens were on the stage crying out to Jesus for our nation...Women who had abortions praying and asking other women to testify of the harm that abortions had caused them, a call for men to fast and pray on Fridays(I think this was Promise Keepers)...I am just so excited to see people come together and seek God for our Nation...Praise God from whom all blessings flow...In His Love,Debrah

Don't give up..sorry couldn't resist. You are making me smile. I don't have a light bulb. I have a holy 2x4 that God sometimes has to apply to either the head or the bottom to get my attention. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the log/splinter thing, that we just can't hear God speaking to us. Be patitent, one day you will wake up and that little 20 watt bulb will suddenly become a flood light. And you will see the light!!

The gospel reading yesterday (was a long one) came from Matthew 15. The first part of it related to the overall topic we are studying.

Matthew 15: 10-11 and 16 - 20

10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "

16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "

Jesus is saying quite clearly that the rituals (unclean food, etc.) are not as harmful to our ultimate salvation as what is in our hearts (or our minds). So as we struggle with our strong-holds (whatever they may be, even addictions) I think He is saying the same thing Joyce is; make right your thoughts. Make them life-giving thoughts, and you will have victory over your strong-holds.

One more thing; I read the P31 ministries devotion today by Melanie Chitwood; "Godly Talk of Gossip" and she asked in her application steps to read Proverbs 6, 10 and 13 and write in your journal what guidelines you learn for Godly talk.

I was struck in all of them, but mostly in Proverbs 10, how intertwined the mind the heart and the lips are in these verses. If you read these passages, are you struck by the same thing?

Someone taught me once that the mind receives, the heart holds, and the mouth speaks.

The Word tells us, we speak out of the overflow of our heart. If we are putting the Word into our minds, but not moving it from there to heart, then we have gained nothing from taking the Word in. That's where the renewing of the mind is, moving all that it receives from the mind to the heart, so instead of knowledge, it becomes faith. This is stuff God is teaching me too. I am still working on moving stuff from the head to the heart.

All,Great discussion! Talking about the things we put into our minds making its way to our hearts, I thought of the scripture in James about being doers of the Word and not just hearers.

I have to make an effort to put into practice that which God teaches me through His Word. It is not enough that I just know what He says, I have to do it! That practice is the harder than it sounds. I still am working on being that doer!

Hello EveryoneGreat comments I Love it. I also read P31 today but didn't read the suggested reading, guess I need to do that. Well I'm going to put Chapter 4 now so I'll talk to you more later.Love,Lynn

This chapter was great!"Don't give up" needs to be an icon to meditate on minute by minute or hour by hour every day. Like Nike's -"Just do It". I grow so weary of the battle, the struggle. It goes back to MY control issues thinking that I have to overcome, or I have to be nice or find kind words for mean people and it is exhausting.Learning to trust God in all things in these matters is a big part of my battle.I have been struggling with co-workers for a long period of time. I have quit the battle on many occasions of trying to see them as Jesus would or to understand them and their issues, especially when they continue to treat me unfairly and even hatefully and I hate them back and then I spiral down in negative thoughts and it effects my other relationships and my life.This has been very difficult for me but I know that I am to learn from this, and am learning to press into these and future encounters with them. I even woke up last night with the lies of the enemy raging in my head but praise to God and this study and all of your wonderful comments I won that battle.Look forward to more.Katrina

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About Me

I'm married to my best friend and a wonderful man of God. We have a blended family with 3 grown Children, 5 Grandchildren, and 2 Great Grandsons. God changed my life and helped me blossom. He shows me daily who He wants me to be. This is a place I can record my accomplishments and reflect on the revelations, truths and growths that God is doing in my life.